What do you say when you find out your baby sister is getting married?

One  day – and you don’t even realize it’s happened – this wonderful human being you’ve known as a child her whole life has grown up. She’s fallen in love with an equally wonderful human being. And she’s ready to spend the rest of her life with him.

How do you even BEGIN to deal with the emotions that come with that?

This story begins a few years earlier, but the spring of this year is a good place to start the telling of it.

Sarah and Carlos had been dating for a while when they went off on a vacation to Hawaii back in March. As you’ve probably already figured out, that’s when and where he proposed to her.

They’re good for each other. They have a wonderful relationship (and be warned, reader, that I’ll probably be using that word a lot tonight). So the news brought joy and excitement and all the other attendant emotions.

But the wedding was still several months away. So life settled back to something akin to normal while we all prepared for the celebration.

Well, time has that way of getting away from us, and the rush of the last few weeks has brought back the joy and excitement and all the other attendant emotions. Along with a little bit of expected madness as December 5 drew closer.

Then, a few hours after a fun rehearsal and dinner, it finally got here.

My role was pretty simple. As one of the bride’s siblings, I’d stand as a groomsman for the ceremony (along with Chris – Lisa, of course, was the maid of honor). As a social media guy, I’d “cover” the day with my usual pics and posts and flair.

After taking care of those last few errands, I put on the tuxedo and headed to the church. I tend to feel a little awkward when I have to go formal, but I also have this crazy idea that I look good in a suit. It brings out the showman in me (and by showman, I might actually mean showoff. I’m not altogether sure about the difference). Anyway, I felt good in it.

(Being a rental, the tux did come with its own cufflinks. But I’m Lee Hurtado, so of course I had something else in mind.)

I didn’t post during the ceremony, of course. But it was small and beautiful and brief and a perfect affirmation of the love Sarah and Carlos have for each other.

The reception, on the other hand, was big and beautiful and ran on for close to five hours. We reconnected with family we hadn’t seen in a while, and found new family we’d never known before. There was dancing and cake and cookies thrown for the send off. There were lots of tears and lots of laughs, usually at the same time (as during Lisa’s maid-of-honor speech).

And there was this:

(No matching video for the garter toss, I’m afraid, since I was required to take part in that. For the record, I didn’t catch it.)

And there was this too:

(I still have no idea what that was about.)

But most of all,there was love. It informed everything about the wedding. And it’s going to last far beyond the wedding.

I’m proud of Sarah. I always have been. I’m happy she’s finding her path in life. And I’m happy she’s found someone she wants to walk with on that path. But… well, this is the part where words don’t work so well. This is the part where emotions kinda take over. And I’ll admit it, I’ve done my share of crying today.

But all the excitement and joy are still there. And I hope they’ll stay with them through a long and happy life together.

So, Sarah and Carlos, if I can offer a wish for you, it’s this…

May your marriage always feel like a wedding.

Thank you for being in our lives, and most of all each other’s.

I love you both.